STUDYING ARITHMETIC. 25 finished the task I found myself considerably improved. An art once learned is never wholly forgotten. "In the month of March, 1736, I was appointed excise-officer of the district in which I lived, and I found it would be needful for me not only to write, but to master the two primary rules of addition and subtraction. My life had now an object, and the desire I felt to keep my accounts in better style than others of my station, determined me, at whatever cost of labour, to study arithmetic. I now regretted I had no instructor, and would gladly have practised the rules even without asking questions. At last I remembered that a schoolfellow of mine had a book from which examples of several rules were selected by the master to exercise his pupils. I found, to my joy, he still possessed this volume, and having borrowed it, I carried home with me my treasure, beginning my studies as I walked along, and pursuing them so diligently, that in six months I was master of the rule of three in fractions. I now knew enough to make me earnestly desirous of knowing more "-for such, we may remark, is the peculiar property of knowledge; it stimulates while it strengthens the mind, and 36 28 LUDWIG STILL ADVANCES. he who once tastes "the Pierian spring" is seldom satisfied until he has drank deeply of its wholesome waters. "I was therefore impatient," continues Ludwig, "to proceed from this book to one that was more advanced, and having in some way contrived to obtain a treatise full of more difficult and complicated calculations, I mastered it completely before the close of the year 1739. Soon afterwards I was fortunate enough to meet with Pacheck's work on geometry. I applied myself diligently to it for some time, but at length laid it aside, partly because I could not comprehend the theory as I went on, nor perceive the utility of the practice, but mainly on account of the necessity I was under of immediately attending to my field and vines. "The severe winter of 1740 compelled me to keep closely confined indoors for many weeks, and then, from sheer lack of mental and bodily occupation, I once more had recourse to the book on geometry; and having comprehended at length some of its leading principles, I procured a little box ruler and an old pair of compasses, on one point of which I mounted the end of a quill fashioned into a pen. With these instruments I incessantly employed myself 28 THE MORE WE LEARN, THE MORE REMAINS TO LEARN. in making various geometrical figures on paper, to illustrate the theory by a solution of the problems. I was thus happily engaged in my cottage till March; and the joy I felt in the knowledge I had acquired was only surpassed by my eager desire of knowing more. "But I was now again compelled to lay aside these fascinating pursuits, and address myself to the labour by which alone I could earn my bread. I was also without money to procure such books and instruments as were absolutely necessary for the prosecution of my geometrical studies. However, with the help of a neighbouring draughtsman, I got the figures (represented by the diagrams in my book) made in wood, and with these I went to work at every leisure interval, which now only occurred once a week, after divine service on a Sunday. I still wanted a new book, and having laid by a small sum against the annual fair, which was my sole opportunity of going to a bookseller's shop, I purchased three small volumes, from which I acquired a complete knowledge of trigonometry. After this I could not rest until I had begun the study of astronomy, and my next purchase, therefore, was an introduction to that science, which I perused with unflagging interest, in DIPPING INTO PHILOSOPHY. 29 venting a great many contrivances to supply my want of proper instruments. "During my studies I had frequently met with the word philosophy, and this became more and more the subject of my thoughts. I imagined it to be the name of some important science with which I was as yet wholly unacquainted, and became exceedingly impatient to inform myself about it. Being continually on the look out, I picked up, at length, a book called, 'An Introduction to the Knowledge of God, of Man, and of the Universe;' and in reading this I found much that was equally interesting and new. As, however, this treatise contained only general principles, I resolved to go to Dresden, and there I inquired among the booksellers who was the most celebrated author that had written on philosophy. They recom mended me to the works of Wolfius, written in the German language; and I accordingly purchased his Logic, and at this laboured a full year, still attending to my other studies, so as not to lose what I had already gained. In this book I found myself referred to another by the same author, called 'Mathematical Principles,' and I therefore inquired about it, intending to buy it; but as it was too dear for my means, I |